XX President's Address 



it is intended to continue the course. The classes for paint- 

 ing in the National Gallery now number 49, and the 

 School of Design 110 students — a fact which is signifi- 

 cant of the increasing hold the fine arts are taking upon 

 the community, and a sure indication of its intellectual 

 advancement. 



As regards the advancement of medical science in the 

 colony, we need only glance over the past year's proceedings 

 of the Medical Society of Victoria to be assured that this 

 all-important branch of knowledge is not languishing in our 

 midst; and the fact that the Society have lately built a new 

 and commodious hall, in which to hold their meetings and 

 keep their library, is additional evidence of progress. Among 

 the proceedings of the past year, while we see the usual pre- 

 dominance of practical reports of cases, statistics, and more 

 purely utilitarian matter, it is gratifying to find that the 

 larger subjects of chemico-physioiogy, etiology, and research 

 into the propagation and prevention of disease, have 

 received a share of attention. As an example, I may 

 cite Dr. Day's paper on " The Chemico-physiological Effect 

 of Nascent Oxygen/' and Dr. Patrick Smith's able contri- 

 bution " On the Etiology of Typhoid Fever," No subject 

 in the whole realm of medical science has greater claims 

 for investigation than that involved in the latter paper, 

 especially in our community, where, evidently favoured by 

 climatic vicissitudes, this fell disease seems to be stalking 

 upon us with annually-increasing strides. Any really scien- 

 tific research, reasoning, or even trustworthy statistics 

 concerning the cause, propagation, and prevention of typhoid 

 fever, should be hailed as a public boon. I therefore refer 

 with pleasure to the fact that the literature of the subject 

 has been reinforced by a very important publication in Mel- 

 bourne from the pen of Mr. Wm. Thomson, entitled The 

 Cause and Extent of Typhoid Fever. The very decided 

 and opposite opinions held among our medical brethren as 



